Speaker 1: Factors were Dolphins. Patrick, What a win for this Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphin team. Wow? What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to
Speaker 1: the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins official
Speaker 1: podcast network, covering your Miami Dolphins each and every day.
Speaker 1: How is it going, everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: and I am here to bring you your daily dose
Speaker 1: of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk to a legend of Miami Dolphins lore about another
Speaker 1: Dolphins legend, Larry Siple joins us here on the Drivetime
Speaker 1: Podcast to recall the nineteen seventy two a f C
Speaker 1: Championship game, the victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers that would
Speaker 1: send the Dolphins to the Super Bowl and an undefeated season.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk to Larry about that game, his multi
Speaker 1: position versatility, but also the great Jim Kick as Larry
Speaker 1: tells us about his selflessness, his durability, and ultimately his
Speaker 1: football to talent that made him such a great running
Speaker 1: back and part of the greatest backfield in the history
Speaker 1: of the National Football League. We'll talk about all that
Speaker 1: and more here on this Friday during edition of the
Speaker 1: Drive Time Podcast. And Jim Kicks certainly enjoyed a storied
Speaker 1: career in the National Football League with the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: and his legends certainly went beyond the football field. The
Speaker 1: famed nineteen sixty nine dubbing of Butch Cassidy and Sun
Speaker 1: Dance Kid that was from Bill Broucher of the Miami Herald,
Speaker 1: who famously named Sonka and Kick, Sun Dance and Butch.
Speaker 1: And they became such icons in that way that a
Speaker 1: television movie was actually made of their exploits that showed
Speaker 1: them riding horseback into the sunset on Miami Beach. They
Speaker 1: also posed for a poster dressed in western garb. They
Speaker 1: were larger than life in South Florida, both on the
Speaker 1: football field as well as away from it, and as
Speaker 1: I'm sure some older Dolphins fans can attest to, if
Speaker 1: you just go to his Wikipedia page, there's all kinds
Speaker 1: of interesting facts and tidbits, like a former criminal Ron Davis,
Speaker 1: who passed himself off as Jim Kick and went on
Speaker 1: to make public appearances, got engaged, and even rented a
Speaker 1: luxury home on Key Biscne before he eventually was caught
Speaker 1: passing himself off as Jim Kick. So he was quite
Speaker 1: a legend away from the football field when it came
Speaker 1: to the football field, though, he was even better between
Speaker 1: the lines. As a Miami Dolphins running back, he was
Speaker 1: a fifth round draft pick out of Wyoming and nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty eight, played with Miami from nineteen sixty eight all
Speaker 1: the way through nineteen seventy four. He rushed for three thousand,
Speaker 1: seven hundred fifty nine yards in his career, thirty three touchdowns,
Speaker 1: and caught the ball for two thousand, three hundred two yards.
Speaker 1: Really a multipurpose player at a time when maybe players
Speaker 1: like that didn't quite exist like they do in modern
Speaker 1: day football. But Jim Kick ahead of his time that
Speaker 1: way and made up one third of the greatest running
Speaker 1: back triumviran in the history of the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Jim Kick gone to student at age seventy three, passed
Speaker 1: away last week, and we wanted to pay some tribute
Speaker 1: here to Jim on the Friday Fins flashback here and
Speaker 1: take a look at one of his more fame performances.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna go back to the nineteen seventy two
Speaker 1: a f C Championship and talk to his friend and
Speaker 1: fellow Dolphins legend Larry Cipal. Do you want to talk
Speaker 1: about unique football history and football background? Cipal lived it.
Speaker 1: He was a punter, He was a half back. He
Speaker 1: was a tight end. He was a running back in
Speaker 1: college there at Kentucky. A seventh round draft pick of
Speaker 1: the Dolphins in nineteen sixties seven, came to the league
Speaker 1: serving primarily as a punter, although he did have some
Speaker 1: statistics as a rusher and pass catcher both at tight
Speaker 1: end and tail back. He needed five hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: seven yards and scored five touchdowns in nineteen sixty nine,
Speaker 1: and he had a big big play in that nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy two a f C Championship victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Speaker 1: a thirty seven yard rush that kept a crucial drive alive.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that season, that unique career, that thirty
Speaker 1: seven yard run in the a f C Championship game,
Speaker 1: Jim kicks, touchdowns, and most of all, Larry's memory of
Speaker 1: Jim Kick. Let's go ahead and get now to my
Speaker 1: interview with former Dolphins great punter, halfback tight end number
Speaker 1: twenty himself, Larry Ciple and writing Shotgun now on the
Speaker 1: Drive Time podcast. Is an eleven year veteran of the
Speaker 1: National Football League, each with the Miami Dolphins. He's a
Speaker 1: two time Super Bowl champion and a member of perfect Ville.
Speaker 1: Larry Ciple, Larry, welcome in, sir, Well, thank you, Travish.
Speaker 1: We're very we're very happy to have you in and
Speaker 1: unfortunately under some difficult circumstances, the passing of the great
Speaker 1: Jim Kick. Of course, we'll talk about Jim here in
Speaker 1: just one moment, but Larry, first, I want to know
Speaker 1: where are you at these days. Are you still in
Speaker 1: South Florida and what are you up to. I'm not
Speaker 1: in South Florida, but I'm in Central Florida, Okay, but
Speaker 1: we live in the Villages. We've been here about eleven
Speaker 1: years and it's right outside of Orlando, about fifty miles
Speaker 1: northwest of its stay in Florida. That seems to be
Speaker 1: the case for a lot of the Dolphins alumni. It
Speaker 1: seems like people get out there and they don't want
Speaker 1: to leave. Well, you can't. You can't beat the weather,
Speaker 1: number one. You gotta fight a little hurricane every once
Speaker 1: in a while, but other than that, it's just perfect
Speaker 1: place to beat. Well this time, you're definitely a little
Speaker 1: bit warm down there, but hey, you pay that off
Speaker 1: in the wintertime when the weather gets just perfect in Florida,
Speaker 1: especially in South Florida. There and Larry, we have you
Speaker 1: in here again today to talk about, or pay tribute
Speaker 1: rather to Jim Kick and in particular the nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: a f C two excuse me a f C championship game. Now,
Speaker 1: you were known, Larry for tucking the football and taking
Speaker 1: off of some big runs out of that punt formation,
Speaker 1: but this game was your only career playoff rush, and
Speaker 1: boy didn't pay off a thirty seven yard gallop that
Speaker 1: kept a crucial drive alive in that game. Can you
Speaker 1: walk us through that play and the decision to take
Speaker 1: off and run when the stakes were that high? Did
Speaker 1: did Don Shula give you the green light on those
Speaker 1: types of players or how did that work for you? Guys? Welliot,
Speaker 1: we had talked about it all a week before the game,
Speaker 1: about how Pittsburgh would set up their wall on their
Speaker 1: punt returns, and he said he wanted to go ahead
Speaker 1: and run a fake, he said, but then let me
Speaker 1: make the call. Talking to he was going to make
Speaker 1: the call and he would have. Uh, I just had
Speaker 1: ansty pants, I guess because I couldn't wait for him
Speaker 1: to say, yes, let's do it. So it turned out
Speaker 1: that they were left. I went right and we left
Speaker 1: out Bob Mathewson block the only guy that had a
Speaker 1: chance to catch me um and so it ended up
Speaker 1: working out well for us and put us back in
Speaker 1: the position to score touchdown. We talked a lot about
Speaker 1: Bob Matheson on the podcast last week because we honored
Speaker 1: the great legendary Bill Aren't Barker and spoke to A. J.
Speaker 1: Dewey about the Dolphins defensive coordinator there for so long.
Speaker 1: I'm curious. Was it entirely up to you when the
Speaker 1: ball was snapped to make that decision or was it
Speaker 1: kind of something you read pre snap like did? Was
Speaker 1: it always on your shoulders to make the decision you're
Speaker 1: gonna run or pump the football? It wasn't to the
Speaker 1: point where he had given me you know you can
Speaker 1: do it. He told me one thing, He said, if
Speaker 1: you're gonna do it, you better make it. Don't make it,
Speaker 1: you'll pay the consequences. So basically I had a green light,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't gonna be crazy about it. What were
Speaker 1: the consequences? I have no idea. I've always made. It
Speaker 1: wasn't a problem. You knew better than to ever have
Speaker 1: to face those You better guess right. If you're gonna
Speaker 1: guess guess right, that is too good. And and and Larry.
Speaker 1: There's obviously several unique things about your career being on
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl championship team, an undefeated Super Bowl championship team, punting,
Speaker 1: playing tight end, running the ball out of that punt formation.
Speaker 1: I'm curious from your perspective, what was it like balancing
Speaker 1: your career as both a punter and a tight end
Speaker 1: there for the Dolphins. I'm gonna tell you what, it
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun. I didn't play much tight
Speaker 1: end when once Chula came in in nineteen seventy. My
Speaker 1: my tight end duties were like sixty eight and sixty nine,
Speaker 1: which was fine. But I did enjoy it the fact
Speaker 1: that I got to play a little bit. It didn't
Speaker 1: affect my punning, I don't think, but only coaches can
Speaker 1: tell you that. I can't. But it didn't bother me.
Speaker 1: I kind of enjoyed it and had a good time.
Speaker 1: Don't it now help help a younger fan here understand
Speaker 1: how that worked in those times, because I know that
Speaker 1: we had players that were two way players, but typically
Speaker 1: you had someone that was like a nose tackle and
Speaker 1: an offensive guard or something that was a little more translatable.
Speaker 1: Punting and playing tight end. Those two just don't seem
Speaker 1: to mesh very well. Was that commonplace in that era? No,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really commonplace, but there were there were a
Speaker 1: couple that did something, you know, running backs or something
Speaker 1: like that. The only reason I got into it is
Speaker 1: deb Moreau was our tight end. Well he went down
Speaker 1: and got hurt. They had nobody else. So once they
Speaker 1: had another guy, and I can't remember who it was,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, I'm seventy five, so you
Speaker 1: gotta give me a little bit of break here. I
Speaker 1: can't remember his name or who he was. But then
Speaker 1: you know, once that once he got hurt during that
Speaker 1: week of practice, they moved me over as a backup,
Speaker 1: and I ended up playing a little bit more and
Speaker 1: then doing a little bit more, and in sixty nine
Speaker 1: I had a pretty good year because the quarterback at
Speaker 1: the time was Rick Norton, and Rick Norton and I
Speaker 1: played together in college, so he knew me, I knew him,
Speaker 1: So it worked out pretty good. Being able to catch
Speaker 1: a lot of balls and then score a couple of touchdowns.
Speaker 1: So and then of course you would go on to
Speaker 1: play for that nineteen seventy two team with Bob Greasy
Speaker 1: there and in that Super Bowl championship year, the perfect
Speaker 1: season and led in large part by a backup quarterback
Speaker 1: and Earl Morrall who replaced an injured Bob Greasy and
Speaker 1: helped that Dolphins team stay unbeated all the way through
Speaker 1: to the a f C Championship game. What was that
Speaker 1: like for a team that had such high expectations coming
Speaker 1: off a season where you played in the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: the year before? What was that like for you guys
Speaker 1: to see your starting quarterback go down and what did
Speaker 1: that do to the expectations for that team in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy two, which eventually would go undefeated? You know, it
Speaker 1: was it was It was a great thing that you know,
Speaker 1: Shula had brought him in the training camp before that,
Speaker 1: and you know, didn't have any idea that Bob was
Speaker 1: going to go down, obviously, but it worked out great
Speaker 1: and everybody was happy with it. He did a heck
Speaker 1: of a job with it, and you know, everything worked
Speaker 1: out well and Bob was able to heal. We would
Speaker 1: kept we kept on winning and uh, you know, and
Speaker 1: then they brought Bob Ben for the championship AFC Championship game,
Speaker 1: and in that a f C championship game a pretty
Speaker 1: unique thing or a unique situation for people that are
Speaker 1: you know, more familiar with football today, where you get
Speaker 1: the home field advantage based upon your regular season record.
Speaker 1: You guys didn't have that advantage in the alternating a
Speaker 1: f C championship site. Every year it alternated between you know,
Speaker 1: certain teams, and you guys had to go on the
Speaker 1: road for that game in Pittsburgh. Was that something that
Speaker 1: kind of bothered you guys or was it a little
Speaker 1: bit to me stuck in your craw that we should
Speaker 1: have had that home field advantage in that game? Well, no,
Speaker 1: because that's the way it was, I mean, all the
Speaker 1: way through until nineteen seventy two, and they changed it
Speaker 1: later on. But you know, we had no no greed
Speaker 1: for no no problem with it. But you know what
Speaker 1: was even ironic is that you're in in January, You're
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh and it's sixty degrees and we're loving every
Speaker 1: minute of it. I mean, in any better for us
Speaker 1: at that time? Yeah, I think that was kind of
Speaker 1: the football gods smiling down to the Dolphins that day.
Speaker 1: We had we had Larry Little on the podcast a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, and he said the exact same thing,
Speaker 1: How you guys were up there sixty degrees in Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: in January, just completely blown away by the fact that
Speaker 1: the weather did kind of it played along there for
Speaker 1: you guys and benefited. So you win that game, you
Speaker 1: go on to the Super Bowl. But in that game,
Speaker 1: Jim Kick had two rushing touchdowns as the Dolphins do
Speaker 1: defeat the Pittsburgh Stealers seventeen to head back to their
Speaker 1: second consecutive Super Bowl. Now, Jim was part of, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, I think most offense fans opinions, the best
Speaker 1: backfield in the history of the National Football League. And
Speaker 1: we'll get to that here in just one moment. But
Speaker 1: both of those touchdowns that he scored were short runs
Speaker 1: two yards and three yards, and that was usually Larry
Speaker 1: Sonka's territory, right. Was there something different in that game
Speaker 1: plan that week to get Jim those goal line carries? Well,
Speaker 1: everybody knew that they were going to key on zomb
Speaker 1: you know, most of the time, because he was he
Speaker 1: was the boll. I mean, gaven the ball up the middle,
Speaker 1: he ran through about two linemen and then he hit
Speaker 1: a couple of linebackers. So everybody knew that. So what
Speaker 1: they did was that they forced to be the league
Speaker 1: guy and gave the ball to kick. And then Kim
Speaker 1: was a tough player. It was extremely tough. He had
Speaker 1: problems all the way through, and he never missed the down,
Speaker 1: never complained. He lined up every down and he played
Speaker 1: every down, and he was in those That blue collar
Speaker 1: mentality certainly fed the Shoe La brand of football very well.
Speaker 1: And as a younger fan, I talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: the kind of the vision. I half the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: in that era was plunging into the end zone against
Speaker 1: the Vikings in the Super Bowl, the second Super Bowl
Speaker 1: win for the Miami Dolphins in the history of the franchise.
Speaker 1: There and he did score the third touchdown in that game,
Speaker 1: so kick had to zonc had one, and as that
Speaker 1: triumvirant accounted for all three Dolphins touchdowns. Now, Jim was
Speaker 1: a Pro bowler his first two years in the National
Speaker 1: Football League, and he really shared the load with Larry
Speaker 1: Sonka early on. Then Mercury Morris was there but didn't
Speaker 1: really get the touches, didn't get heavily involved until that
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two season. But I'm curious, Larry, did you
Speaker 1: guys as a team know that you had something pretty
Speaker 1: special there early on with those three backs in that backfield.
Speaker 1: I think surely had an idea. Yes, I think we
Speaker 1: did too a little bit as you watch them in practice. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know it was it was always, you know, kickings on,
Speaker 1: kickings on, and then all of a sudden they throw
Speaker 1: in Mercury. That was a kind of a change of
Speaker 1: pace because Mercury was the outside guy, and you know,
Speaker 1: it didn't send him up the middle very often, but
Speaker 1: they did send him around the outside, and he was
Speaker 1: put quick and pretty fast. Jim was more of a
Speaker 1: patient runner. He takes his time till he found a
Speaker 1: hole and he'd hit the hole as quick as he could.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we we knew we had something special one
Speaker 1: with the three backs like that. And I would assume
Speaker 1: that patient style really served him well in the passing
Speaker 1: game too, because you look at their passing stats and
Speaker 1: Jim was always thirty forty forty five catches every season
Speaker 1: just about and you know, you look at running backs
Speaker 1: in today's NFL, and typically if a back is faster,
Speaker 1: maybe smaller, he usually contributes in the passing game. And
Speaker 1: Mercury certainly had the speed, but Jim was the one
Speaker 1: that got all the passing option or the past targets
Speaker 1: as the out of the backfield. Out of those three,
Speaker 1: what was it about him that made him such a
Speaker 1: good pass catcher as a running back? Well, I had
Speaker 1: good quickness number one, and Shula had. His design of
Speaker 1: offense was to get the balls to the backs as
Speaker 1: much as possible so that they could end up running
Speaker 1: down the field more than anything else. So Jim, you know,
Speaker 1: will come out. We had what they called the halfback option,
Speaker 1: or he had an option to go in or out.
Speaker 1: And you know, Jim caught a lot of balls just
Speaker 1: running that route by himself. And when they left in
Speaker 1: seventy four to go to the World League, uh, which
Speaker 1: kind of ruined us, to be honest with you, But
Speaker 1: they had to do it, which we understood. Then I
Speaker 1: had to had to take his place on third downs,
Speaker 1: come in and do a little bit of that. But
Speaker 1: that was about it. Jim was He was a good receiver,
Speaker 1: and it's a good running back. Yeah, because your your
Speaker 1: career kind of had some different avenues where you kind
Speaker 1: of branched off the tight end you're obviously, but you
Speaker 1: mentioned coming in on a third down. What was that
Speaker 1: like for you? Changing your position once again there? Well,
Speaker 1: I was drafted as a running back, which I was
Speaker 1: in college, so I did have a little bit of
Speaker 1: knowledge of being a running back, and you know the
Speaker 1: the the third downs situations where you know to get
Speaker 1: outside and of the offensive line, defensive line, run your patterns,
Speaker 1: catch the ball, and then you know, do as much
Speaker 1: as you can damage damage why, I said, as you
Speaker 1: possibly could. And we talked about Jim kick in the
Speaker 1: in the role he had in the backfield there with
Speaker 1: Son and Mercury Morris. I'm curious, Larry, what, since you
Speaker 1: were around him and around that team obviously, what was
Speaker 1: his response to kind of his changing role through the
Speaker 1: years and maybe that year when Mercury did get some
Speaker 1: more action, some more touches, How did Jim respond to that.
Speaker 1: Jim was pretty damn glared about it. I mean he
Speaker 1: didn't he wasn't complaining. The thing was, you know, we
Speaker 1: play a game. Record didn't get many touches. He'd be
Speaker 1: in talking to Shula, so he give more touches A
Speaker 1: week after that, Well that week Jim Kick was in
Speaker 1: talking to so he give more week reps next week.
Speaker 1: So it was a constant battle between the two of them.
Speaker 1: But it never was a personal battle. It was more about,
Speaker 1: you know, time to play position, you know, time to
Speaker 1: play more that more, more touches of the ball. But
Speaker 1: it never affected there their own personalities. They never were
Speaker 1: angry at each other or anything like that. It was
Speaker 1: always about competition and that's all. It was. Always always competing,
Speaker 1: Always competition the best thing for a football team. We
Speaker 1: see that now with a modern day Miami Dolphins under
Speaker 1: Brian Flores and the idea that maybe you want to
Speaker 1: be adaptable each week to have your game plan reflect
Speaker 1: the opponent you face. So Don Shula, Bill Arnsberger, those
Speaker 1: guys were definitely ahead of their time back in the sixties, seventies,
Speaker 1: eighties and up into the nineties. But back to the
Speaker 1: game at hand, the game on topic here, is there
Speaker 1: a moment in that game that you felt like it
Speaker 1: really kind of turned in favor of the Dolphins because
Speaker 1: it wasn't back and forth affair. Was there a moment
Speaker 1: that really stuck out to you that you remember to
Speaker 1: this day. That really allowed you guys to go ahead
Speaker 1: and prevail and win that football game you're talking about,
Speaker 1: the NFC Camp Ship game. Yes, sir, half time when
Speaker 1: we came out at halftime and he he put Bob
Speaker 1: Grief back in the ball game, and a couple of
Speaker 1: days later he hits Wall Warfield down the fl went
Speaker 1: for about sixty yards. Yeah. I think putting Bob in
Speaker 1: that ball game turned the game completely in our favorite
Speaker 1: at that time. And was that something The team was
Speaker 1: kind of rallying behind that decision to make the switch
Speaker 1: to go back to Bob. I think they did. You know,
Speaker 1: it sounded like it in the locker room, It sounded
Speaker 1: like it on the sideline, It felt like it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think everybody was kind of happy to be back
Speaker 1: where we were. Not that Earl was, you know, a
Speaker 1: detrimentarying like dead. He was probably the best thing that
Speaker 1: ever happened to us. When Bob did go down, Um,
Speaker 1: but Don made a decision to go ahead and replace
Speaker 1: him with with Bob at halftime, and I think it
Speaker 1: helped the team eventually. It's certainly got the Dolphins on
Speaker 1: the scoreboard. We talked about Jim kicks to rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Those both came in the second half of that game.
Speaker 1: I have one more question for you here, Larry. You
Speaker 1: know we talked about Jim Kick. Is unfortunate passing last week,
Speaker 1: gone too soon, certainly at age seventy three. I just
Speaker 1: want to leave you with the floor right here. Who
Speaker 1: was Jim Kick to you? And what would you say
Speaker 1: to him today if you could, if he was still
Speaker 1: with us. Just take the floor and talk to us
Speaker 1: about your friend Jim Kick. Well, first off, I'd like
Speaker 1: to thank him for being a friend and being a teammate. Uh.
Speaker 1: He meant a lot to the team. He meant a
Speaker 1: lot to me because we were we ran around a
Speaker 1: little bit together in there in the late sixties, early seventies.
Speaker 1: And uh, I just I'm gonna miss him. That's a
Speaker 1: terrible disease. Uh God, I hope nobody gets it. But
Speaker 1: you know that's that's far fetched. I'm sure. I hope
Speaker 1: his family understands that he's going to be missed. He
Speaker 1: was loved by a lot of players. Um, I just uh,
Speaker 1: I hope they're blessed and understand that he is. He
Speaker 1: is going to be remembered for a long, long time.
Speaker 1: That's certainly a legend of Miami Dolphins history. As you
Speaker 1: are yourself, Larry Ciple, eleven year member of the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: two times Super Bowl champion, Larry, I really appreciate your
Speaker 1: time today, sir, Thank you so much. Thank you in
Speaker 1: a way, he goes Larry si well remembering the memory
Speaker 1: of Jim Kick, Dolphins running back who passed away last
Speaker 1: week at the age of seventy three. Been a tough
Speaker 1: year for this organization, saying goodbye to a lot of
Speaker 1: memorable alumni, a lot of legends of the franchise. And
Speaker 1: let's just go ahead and wrap up this Finch flashback
Speaker 1: here on the Drive Time podcast. With that, everybody, have
Speaker 1: a good weekend. We'll talk to you next week.